Reducing budget while increasing promotions. - What's the plan behind this, Mr. Mann?
St. Pauli and Düsseldorf were the only teams with more losses than Freiburg, but they managed to finish higher in the league. Freiburg's disappointing run resulted in a 6th-place finish, which was not satisfactory for coach Stefan Leitl. His contract, however, lasts until 2025, and the expectation from the management is for promotion during that time.
"We can handle the ambitions," said Leitl. Sporting director Marcus Mann added, "If you were sixth, the next goal would be to target the top three spots. We have to raise the standards and set higher goals."
The budget has been cut from 17.6 million to under 16 million, with the recent transfer fee for Derrick Köhn to Galatasaray Istanbul already factored in. Mann acknowledged that it wouldn't be easy with this budget, saying, "We won't be amongst the big spenders in the league next season, but we've shown in the past that we can find good solutions."
Some of those solutions include the loan of Maxi Beier and the free transfer of Bright Arrey-Mbi. However, they cannot afford transfers like Ole Pohlmann (Dortmund II, €1 million transfer fee). "Nevertheless, we will try to find the best possible players for us," said Mann, "We want to improve individually."
With relegated teams like Darmstadt and Cologne, along with HSV, Hertha, Schalke, Nuremberg, Karlsruhe, and Lautern challenging, it's going to be a tough season. Leitl stressed the difficulty of the situation, "No one would have thought that there would still be six or seven top-class teams in the league with us. It's going to be a brutal challenge next season. All the big clubs in this 2nd division have their sights set on promotion, and there are no guarantees."
Although Freiburg lost their top scorer Cedric Teuchert (27) to the USA, no other regular players are expected to leave. Leitl said, "The players who form the backbone of the team are staying. We have no turnover and can keep the squad intact." However, they might lose players like Nicolo Tresoldi (19), Enzo Leopold (23), Bright Arrey-Mbi (21), or Phil Neumann (26) if offers come in. Mann said, "If we were to lose one more player, we would have to reinvest the transfer fee. Otherwise, it would be difficult to replace them."
Mann and Leitl acknowledge that a lot of things need to fall into place for Freiburg to achieve promotion, given their limited resources. "Everything has to go right if we want to be competitive until the end," they said.
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Source: symclub.org
